In recent times, Liu Jian's army has not clashed with the Xiliang army.
In the last battle between generals, Hu Zhen failed and Lu Bu also failed. It can be said that it was a complete defeat.
As a result, the morale of the Xiliang Army and the Bingzhou Army fell to its lowest level in history.
In addition, Liu Jian used Niu Fu and Hua Xiong as hostages and deceived Hu Zhen on the top of the city, forcing Hu Zhen to vomit blood and lose his horse.
The Xiliang army has now withdrawn more than fifty miles away from Yangxia City. According to Liu Jian and Jushou's judgment, they will not attack again in the short term.
At the same time, Liu Jian also received news that Yuan Shu had finally taken action and began to use his trump card against Yuan Shao - Yuan Ji's letter.
Although Yuan Shao then adopted many methods to gradually tilt the situation in his direction, Liu Jian knew that he had won this round in the end.
Even if Yuan Shao regains control of the initiative and regains his advantage, the golden body attached to him as a "model in the world" has been broken.
The words "model for the world" cannot be tarnished in the hearts of those who are truly loyal and honest.
No matter whether Yuan Ji's death has anything to do with Yuan Shao or not, from now on, these four words have nothing to do with Yuan Shao.
Of course, as the most outstanding figure among the younger generation of the Yuan family in Runan, Yuan Shao still has great influence among the wealthy and wealthy families.
But this influence is only for his origins as the Runan Yuan family, the fourth generation and the third Duke. The original bonus that made the Yuan family a leading figure in the world will no longer be there.
Liu Jian thought he was quite satisfied with the outcome of this incident.
Nowadays, neither Dong Zhuo nor Yuan Shao are in the mood to fight with him anymore. Although Liu Jian also suffered losses, the soldiers left by King Chen Liu Chong can be regarded as a good supplement for him.
Now, he only needs to stay in Yangxia City with peace of mind, calm down the turmoil, and wait for Dong Zhuo and Yuan Shao's actions.
However, Liu Jian originally thought that the first envoy to arrive at him would be Dong Zhuo's envoy, but he never expected that Dong Zhuo's envoy did not arrive, but Yuan Shu's envoy came first.
After all, the letter was given to Yuan Shu by Liu Jian, so when Yang Hong came, Liu Jian still summoned him very enthusiastically.
As children of the Yuan family, Yuan Shu and Yuan Shao behave in completely different styles.
Although Yuan Shao was quite treacherous in his heart, in public, Yuan Shao was generous, loyal, and devoted to wealth.
But on the contrary, although Yuan Shu was of noble birth, his mind was too narrow.
In terms of taking action, he is far less generous than Yuan Shao, and can even be said to be very stingy.
Yang Hong was on an envoy on behalf of Yuan Shu this time, and the gifts he brought were extremely shabby.
In terms of value, it is not as generous as the reward Liu Jian gave to one of his generals.
After reading the gift list from Yuan Shu, Liu Jian slowly closed the slip.
He sighed deeply in his heart and thought to himself:
This is really stingy.
But even so, Liu Jian still warmly entertained Yang Hong.
Because he also wanted to see what Yuan Shu wanted to discuss with him when he sent Yang Hong here.
During the banquet, Yang Hong expressed Yuan Shu's two demands to Liu Jian.
First, Yuan Shu hopes that Liu Jian can stand up and side with Yuan Shu... and help Yuan Shu prove that the original letter was indeed entrusted by Yuan Ji to be delivered to Yuan Yi by Liu Jian.
When Liu Jian heard this, he refused on the spot.
"Master Yang, that letter was indeed brought out from Luoyang by Brother Shiji and entrusted to me to deliver it to Yuan Boye, but I have not read the content of the letter."
"At the beginning, it was just because Yizhou was too far away from Jizhou, and the road to Shu was difficult to reach the sky. The mountains were so dangerous, so I sent someone to send a letter there. If something went wrong, wouldn't I be responsible for Brother Shiji?
Entrusted?"
"Gao Dao and Shi Ji are from the same father and mother. It is the blood of brothers that is thicker than water. That's why I took the initiative and handed over this letter to Gao Da. I hope he can help send people from Jiangnan to guard the route. By the way,
The river went upstream, brought it into Shu, and handed it over to Yuan Boye."
"It's just that I am too gullible. Why should I open a good letter to Yuan Boye without permission? Now that he has caused such a big trouble, how can I stand up and make the decision for him? Who knows?
That letter has not been tampered with by the highway?"
What Liu Jian said made perfect sense.
But anyone who is sensible will know that this is clearly nonsense.
You obviously want to sow discord, but in the end you still pretend to be aggrieved. Do you think it's irritating or not?
But it just so happens that people have already figured out what to do before doing this.
People are just being reasonable now.
To be honest, Liu Jian has nothing to do with this matter. He is just a messenger. If you want others to take the blame, why should they take the blame with you?
In fact, before Yuan Shu sent Yang Hong here, Yan Xiang and Yang Hong made suggestions to Yuan Shu on this matter.
They felt that Liu Jian would definitely not succeed Yuan Shu.
But Yuan Shu has a problem. He feels that as the fourth generation and the third prince, he is a born noble. After Yuan Ji's death, he will be the next generation head of the Yuan family.
People in this world, as long as they have noble status, should obey him unconditionally and flatter him unconditionally.
Therefore, before Yuan Shu came, he asked Yang Hong to give Liu Jian a few words.
The general idea was that he hoped Liu Jian would help him.
In the future, after Yuan Shu wiped out Yuan Shao's power, he was willing to share the interests of the Yuan family in Runan and transfer them to help him, the Liu family in Zhuojun, become one of the most powerful nobles in the world.
It is not impossible to even help the Liu family of Zhuo County inherit some unique Confucian classics inheritance and become a powerful scholar.
But the problem is that the conditions Yuan Shu is proposing now may still be somewhat attractive to Liu Jian in a peaceful and prosperous time.
But now that the world has entered the mode of competition among heroes, the era of monopolizing the inheritance of knowledge by turning into a sect of elites, and then recruiting disciples and old officials to seize resources has passed.
The old monopoly inheritance system is what Liu Jian will completely abolish in the next step.
Yuan Shu is now using this as bait to catch him, how could Liu Jian agree?
The times have definitely been improving, but Yuan Shu still clings to the old ways and wants to stick to the old system... Liu Jian concluded that it is only a matter of time before he is completely eliminated from this world.
Anyway, no matter what Yang Hong said, Liu Jian just refused to agree.
Seeing that his rhetoric was useless, Yang Hong could only tell Liu Jian about Yuan Shu's second request.
"I heard that Yuan Shiji's son is here to serve you now? I wonder if this is possible?"
When Yang Hong talked about Yuan Chong, Liu Jian felt unusually nervous.
He looked at Yang Hong carefully.
"Yes, I adopted you in Yecheng. What happened?"
Yang Hong respectfully said to Liu Jian: "The son of the patriarch of the Yuan family is staying in the envoy's house. My Duke Yuan has said that the son of the Yuan family is really lucky. He can be taken in by the envoy in times of crisis. It is a great kindness to the Yuan family."
, People in the Yuan family will never forget that Yuan Shiji and my Mr. Yuan are brothers from the same father and mother. This child is also the son of Mr. Yuan, and he is the closest by blood. Yang is here today, please envoy to return it.
The son of the Yuan family will be adopted and cared for by Mr. Yuan."
As soon as these words came out, Liu Jian's expression changed instantly.
He looked Yang Hong up and down: "The beloved son was entrusted to me by Brother Shiji. I have adopted him as my adopted son, and he is my son... How can I, Liu Jian's son, be handed over to others so easily?"
Yang Hongdao: "In the past, Yuan Shiji was the ninth minister in Luoyang and was held hostage by Dong Zhuo. The life of his family was hanging by a thread, so he entrusted his young son to the envoy to adopt him on his behalf. This is the right thing to do."
"But this child is a member of the Yuan family after all. Now that he is out of trouble, he should be raised by a member of the Yuan family. This is also the right thing to do."
"If your Majesty does not return the child to Mr. Yuan at this moment, then Yang Hong will really not know what your Majesty's intentions are, and I am afraid that the people in the world will not know what your Majesty's plot is."
These words seemed to have touched a chord in Liu Jian's heart.
Liu Jian slowly narrowed his eyes: "Mr. Yang is threatening me?"
"I don't dare, I don't dare. Yang is just stating the truth."
"What a factual statement!"
Liu Jian suddenly became angry and placed the chopsticks in his hands heavily on the table.
The force was so great that the chopsticks flew up.
Yang Hong didn't expect that Liu Jian would turn against him on the spot, and he was frightened and at a loss.
You know, the current Liu Jian is also the overlord of one side and a famous general in the Han Dynasty, with tens of thousands of elite men under his command.
It is not an exaggeration to say that for a person like him, as long as he gets angry, blood will flow into a river.
Although Yang Hong was taking advantage of the situation at the moment, he was still in Liu Jian's territory after all. Liu Jian could make his head move if he was not careful.
Jushou, who had been accompanying the banquet, saw this scene and hurriedly stepped forward to be the peacemaker.
"My lord, are you drunk?"
Liu Jian narrowed his eyes and said with a smile, "I'm a little drunk."
Jushou smiled and turned back to Yang Hong, cupping his hands and saying, "General Zuo has been fighting many battles in recent days. He is tired and has not drank for a long time. He is a bit drunk today. Please forgive me, Mr. Yang."
Yang Hong was not a tough-minded person, so he was a little frightened when Liu Jian threw his chopsticks.
Now that Jushu was the peacemaker, Yang Hong naturally borrowed the donkey from Poxia and retreated.
After Yang Hong left, Jushou looked at Liu Jian.
"My lord, did you scare him on purpose?"
Liu Jian smiled helplessly.
"I can't help but scare him. If we continue talking like this, I really don't know how to answer."
"Let him be sent away, and then I will think carefully about how to deal with this matter. After I have a solution, I will discuss it with him."
Ju Shou cupped his hands and said, "My lord has thought it through, but it is clear that this matter is a trap set by Yuan Shu for my lord."
Liu Jian nodded: "This is Yuan Shu's plan. Of course I understand it. He wants to get his favorite son back and use this son as the father-in-law of the Yuan family. He can use his son as a slave to control the whole Yuan family. It is a good plan."
"If I don't return my beloved son to him, I'm afraid that everyone in the world will say that I have bad intentions and have designs on the Yuan family. This may have a great impact on my reputation."